Do you give yourself the right to be amazing or do you settle for being average? Until recently, I settled for the latter, but last week, a truly phenomenal thing happened, caused by nothing else but a shift in my attitude towards myself.

I have never been good at bowling – I usually come last or second to last in any game I play. I get one strike per game and usually by sheer chance. I do not know how to control the ball nor how to control the force with which I throw it. Being good at bowling has always been a mystery to me.

However…

Last week I went bowling with a group of fifteen friends and on my first go a thought popped into my head “You have the right to be amazing. You have the right to win. Get a strike!”.

And guess what? I got a strike. So, on every go I said to myself “Give yourself the right to be amazing. Give yourself the right to win”.

And guess what? I didn’t get just one strike, not even two, not even three. I got enough strikes to make me win out of the group of fifteen people!

How do you explain the fact that a girl who has never won a game of bowling in her life got double the points of most of the other players?

For me, there is only one explanation for this: I gave myself the right to it.

I allowed myself to be great. I allowed myself to excel. I allowed myself to come first. I allowed myself to win.

A shift in my attitude towards what I have the right to be and to do caused a small miracle. I changed my thoughts from “I’m not good at bowling” to “I can be amazing”. And instantly my body replied to this affirmation by acting it out!

This was an amazing discovery for me – nothing could have been clearer proof of how our thoughts change our reality.

Have you ever noticed a very significant change in your reality following a change of attitude?

We all want some sort of memory of our past. It is nice to look back at photos and remember the events in our lives, but it’s even nicer reading about our impressions of that event.

Whenever I come across my old notes or letters or diaries, I am overcome with all sorts of emotions: amusement, surprise, joy, nostalgia, sadness. I am grateful to my past self for having ‘eternalised’ these fleeting moments.

However, although it’s great to keep a diary for the pleasure of our future selves, our busy lifestyle does not necessarily give us the time to write in detail about our day. And anyway, will we even want to read all the details of our days in 20, 30 or 40 years time? Probably not. All we will want to do is to remember the most important feelings, thoughts and impressions that we had during certain periods of our lives.

So, why not keep a one-sentence diary? Yes, that’s right, write only one sentence a day. You can be sure that this one sentence will sum up the most important event or impression you had that day.

Use a pretty diary and colourful pens. I use the Someday diary, with a beautiful design and creative photography, and I write with pink, orange, green and blue pens.

Amongst my diary entries you will find:

We ran through pink sprinkles at the stadium after closing hours and got soaked.

You brought me a glass of water when I was upset.

Singing and cycling in the sun.

A strong supportive hug when I came back home from work.

***

One sentence. The one memory that matters. The one thing from today that is worth taking into tomorrow.

“If you don’t have the money that you want today, it means you are lacking something within” ~ Suze Orman

I thought about this idea and asked myself: what am I lacking within? Well, I think my biggest ‘lack’ is not giving myself the right to have more. I feel that having more would be equal to being unjust – so many people would have less than me; how can I allow myself to be rich, happy and comfortable, when others are poor, miserable and suffering?

Listening to the interview with Suze Orman during the Hay House World Summit, I realised thatI had up until now had a selfish vision of wealth, seeing it only as a benefit to myself. I understood, however, that my wealth can have positive effects on other people – not only will I be able to share my wealth with others, but my happiness, my increased freedom and my fulfilment will also bring these things into the lives of my friends and family.

I also realised that I had always equated being wealthy with excess and superfluity, whereas in its best manifestation, wealth offers comfort and simplicity.

Wealth offers comfort and simplicity

So I wrote out some affirmations, which reflect this new positive vision of wealth; one which will bring happiness, simplicity and comfort into my life and the lives of those closest to me. Here are a few of these affirmations: